Owen Farrell set off for the Oktoberfest in Munich with his Saracens team-mates on Sunday night, ready to toast a tense victory over the champions and a flawless goal-kicking return which helped him step up his audition for the England No 10 shirt.

The 21-year-old Saracens fly-half has endured a taxing start to this Aviva Premiership campaign, with a lack of precision in front of goal raising fresh doubts about his immediate Test prospects. Yet, with his father Andy and Mike Catt in attendance at the Stoop on behalf of the national management, Farrell rediscovered his accuracy and composure.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has
reiterated that Farrell junior is in direct competition with Toby Flood
for the Test stand-off place. It was Flood who finished the South Africa
tour with the upper hand, but the younger contender’s perfect haul of
six penalties from as many attempts on Sunday was a timely riposte.

As it turned out, Farrell found his range
just as Nick Evans - Quins’ accomplished former All Black fly-half -
lost his, with four misses from eight shots.

Those were rare lapses which proved decisive in a tight and attritional
contest. The last of Farrell’s kicks found the target six minutes from
time and Saracens held on for a notable win to claim third place in the
table.

Mark McCall, the Hertfordshire club’s director of rugby, acclaimed
Farrell’s efforts, saying: ‘He came into this game under pressure but he
has a great temperament and is a good international player. We had no
doubts about him. He has practised hard in the last couple of weeks and
kicked his goals well.’

Yet this was a triumph founded on collective will rather than just Farrell’s clinical feats.

Saracens have now gone three-and-a-half matches without scoring a try,
but they relocated their fighting spirit in the build-up to this game,
with McCall adding: ‘We met on Monday and we talked about our values -
what we are all about as a club. It was a close game and I think we
found ourselves again by fighting hard and showing real energy.’

Over the line: Danny Care dives over to score a try

Farrell revealed that he has made some minor tweaks to his kicking
routine, leading to Sunday’s resumption of normal service, adding: ‘I
had a little look at it. I hadn’t practised as much as I want to, but
that doesn’t excuse how badly I kicked at Wembley (in the 9-9 draw v
Leicester). I made some little changes but still stuck to what I know
and practised enough to be confident going into this game. I’d kicked
well in training.’

While Saracens departed for another bonding trip in Munich, Quins were
left behind to reflect on a frustrating setback. They were undone by
Evans’ rare waywardness - for which he soon apologised on Twitter - and
the indiscipline which presented Farrell with a steady flow of kicks in
range of the posts.

On the move: Care breaks through

Charge: Harlequins' Mike Brown breaks through a tackle from Saracens' Will Fraser (left) and Steve Borthwick

They weren’t even able to take full advantage of some lenient
officiating before half-time, when Danny Care appeared to knock on at a
ruck only to be allowed to dart away and score under the posts. Referee
Andrew Small had the option of seeking a second opinion from the
television match official but he chose not to do so.

Instead, Evans converted that try and kicked three penalties, but missed the rest.

Director of rugby Conor O’Shea did not blame his Kiwi, saying: ‘He’s won
a million games for us. We should have won that game but we weren’t up
to the levels we expect to be. It was a very frustrating game.’

Pure gold: Mo Farah does the Mobot with the Harlequins mascots and daughter Rihanna